The long wait period is a great time to work on documenting the adoption process from beginning to end. This is a perfect time to write a journal, create a blog or start a scrapbook/baby book.
Journaling allows parents to write down all of their thoughts and feelings while waiting for their child to arrive. It is not only therapeutic; it is an excellent way to keep a record of everything that happens before, during and after the adoption. Adoption blogging is a terrific online way to document an adoption. Blogging not only allows waiting parents to record the events of an adoption, it gives other people the opportunity to check in, keep up with and read about the process. Websites such as Blogger and Word Press allow people to create blogs for free, and they are very easy to use.
Scrapbooking preserves the pictures and mementos of the adoption wait, the adoption trip (if applicable) and the child’s arrival. Adoption is such a special time and keeping a scrapbook will not only allow parents to look back fondly on their experience, but it will also tell the story of how an adopted child came to join his/her family. When the baby/child arrives, parents should start a baby book just like they would for a biological child. Snip a small piece of hair, record what the child eats or when the child takes his/her first steps or write down his/her first words. And adoptive parents should also strongly consider creating a lifebook, which is something like a scrapbook, but it is a detailed outline of a child's life before the adoption. It includes birth information, birth parent information, and any and all placements through their foster care or adoptive journey. Adopted children will have questions about where they came from, and this book can help answer some of those questions.
Chronicling the adoption allows parents to tell the story of all the steps taken and emotions felt while going through the exciting adoption process and detail the important and meaning events that occur once that very special child comes home.